- #APPLE MAC MINI 2018 REVIEW UPGRADE#
- #APPLE MAC MINI 2018 REVIEW PRO#
- #APPLE MAC MINI 2018 REVIEW PC#
#APPLE MAC MINI 2018 REVIEW PRO#
Not all software supports the latter, but some notable digital audio editing software, such as Avid Pro Tools, at least take advantage to accelerate plug-ins. (With only four cores, that CPU may not match the performance of the i5 and i7 eighth-generation hexacore processors.) A Kaby Lake G CPU, for example, would be a nice alternative to the i3 simply to make the system low-end VR ready, to take some of the video decoding burden or to help reduce overhead in audio production. I'm not saying it needs a powerful gaming or rendering GPU. So what's the drawback? For many pros, it may be hamstrung by Intel's integrated graphics processor. We didn't rebenchmark the 2014 Mac Mini for comparison, but Apple would have had to actively try to slow it down in order to deliver worse performance than those four-year-old components. But if it's going to be another four years until Apple updates the Mini again, then every little bit of upgradability helps. This undercuts one of the perks, namely being able to buy less expensive memory elsewhere. Upgradable memory is back, and it takes two industry-standard DDR4 SO-DIMMs.īut like most Apple products, it's not really end-user upgradable, requiring a trip to a service center. In addition to modernizing the connection options with USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, updating to HDMI 2.0 and offering a 10-gigabit Ethernet option, Apple fixed one of the big complaints about the 2014 model: soldered memory. But in the 2018 models, Apple's delivered a great upgrade, with only one possible drawback. Sarah Tew/CNETĪfter several years of silence on the Mac Mini front, fans of Apple's diminutive desktop computing slab had given up hope of ever getting a replacement. In exchange we gain more Thunderbolt capacity and better venting. Gone are the SD card slot, two of the USB-A connections and audio input.
#APPLE MAC MINI 2018 REVIEW UPGRADE#
This process is not as simple as it was on the Late 2012 model, but it is possible – so if you want to save some money and upgrade your own RAM it can be done.The 2014 Mac Mini's connections (bottom) versus the 2018 model's (top). Buy Apple Mac mini (Late 2018) featuring 3.2 GHz Intel Core i7 Six-Core, 16GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM, Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630, 128GB PCIe SSD, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet Port, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) Bluetooth 5.0, 4 x Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type-C) Ports, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A 1 x HDMI 2.0, macOS. When it comes to RAM, the 2018 Mac Mini can have the RAM upgraded by Apple or the user – if you know what you're doing – which is a positive, as the 2014 model's memory was soldered to the board. An external storage solution is much cheaper. You can specify up to 64GB RAM and can also choose options up to 2TB of internal storage – although the associated costs of these upgrades will likely exclude the average consumer from considering them, as it's just not worth it. The Mac Mini now starts with 8th Gen Intel Core i3 processor (quad-core at 3.6GHz), with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD (as on review here), with a step-up option of 8th Gen Intel Core i7 (six-core at 3.2GHz (and at £270 more)). The Mac Mini's hardware update, therefore, is really to appeal to those professionals who want the compact versatility but with added power. While it's great as a 'switcher' device at home, many of those people are abandoning the desktop computer completely and buying notebooks or tablets instead. The justification for this price change is really in the hardware – and, perhaps, the types of people buying the Mac Mini.
#APPLE MAC MINI 2018 REVIEW PC#
That's how we first came to the Mac Mini, replacing an outdated PC with something a lot smaller, running Mac OS, while keeping all our accessories.Īpple says that this proposition has changed slightly over the years, as the Mac Mini has found fame with studios and creatives who want power in a tiny package – which explains some of the hardware repositioning in 2018. When it launched it was very much a 'switcher' device: you could remove your old PC and connect this Mac to your existing hardware – so if you had an old mouse, keyboard and monitor then you were good to go.
That's important because of what the Mac Mini is. Thunderbolt 3 – those small-scale USB-C ports to the rear – really is a versatile and powerful connection and if you've been reluctant to upgrade, there's an inevitability about its growing dominance. That's joined by Ethernet and HDMI as well as a 3.5mm headphone socket, so while the Thunderbolt 3 is ready to offer diverse connections, there's enough to let you conventionally connect this PC to existing devices. While the design is pretty much the same as it was before – with exactly the same footprint – spin it around and there's a big change: the 2018 Mac Mini loses some legacy connections, reducing USB 2.0 to two slots and offering four additional Thunderbolt 3 connections.
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